Luggage fittings



United States Patent O 3,185,513 LUGGAGE FITTINGS William E. Chance,Hockley, Birmingham, England, assigner to C. W. Cheney & Son Limited,Hockley, Birmingham, England, a British company Filed Oct. 10, 1962,Ser. No. 229,705 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Aug. 25,1962, 32,735/ 62 3 Claims. (Cl. 292281) This invention relates toluggage fittings and particular to hasps which are spring loaded to ilyoff when released. These ttings are comparatively diicult to assemblebecause of the spring loading and in fact it is usual to assemble withthe spring dead and then tension the spring and engage it with part ofthe fitting to retain the tension; this is not a task lending itself tomass production, and in the case of small fittings, the labour cost fortensioning the spring may be equal to or greater than the remainder ofthe labour cost in making and assembling the complete article.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved fitting.

In accordance with the invention, the fitting comprises an attachmentplate and a hasp tted to the plate, the hasp being spring loaded to Hyolf when released, the arrangement being such that in the spring drivenolf position the spring is not tensioned.

The invention further consists `in a luggage fitting comprising a hasppivoted to an attachment plate upon a pin, the hasp being formed with aknuckle which houses a coiled torsion spring, the tails of which projecttangentially in opposite directions, the attachment plate being formedwith a window through which said knuckle can be located to align thebore of the knuckle with apertured ears projecting from the attachmentplate so that the pin may be inserted through the bore of the spring andthrough said ears to assemble the parts together when the hasp is in itsextreme off position .and the spring is untensioned.

It will be appreciated that swinging the hasp about the pivot pin to theon position tensions the spring, so that when the hasp is released fromanother part of a piece of luggage, the hasp will ily off.

Other features of the invention will become apparent from the followingdetailed description when considered with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of a hasp in its olf position;

FIGURE 2 is an underside plan thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE l but with the hasp in its onposition;

FIGURE 4 is 1an underside plan of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view on an enlarged scale of theparts of the hasp shown in FIGURES 1-4 prior to assembly;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary view corresponding to FIGURE 2 of anotherhasp; and

FIGURE 7 is a sectional side elevation of part of the hasp of FIGURE 6.

Referring first to FIGURES 1-5, the hasp shown therein comprises a loopplate, generally indicated at 10, an attachment plate, generallyindicated at 11, and a pivot pin 12. The plates 10, 11 are eachfabricated from a single piece of sheet metal, as a pressing.

The loop plate has one end portion provided with a lug 13 a portion ofwhich is formed into a cylindrical knuckle of which the axis istransverse to the length of the loop plate, and each side of the lugcarries integral tongues 14 bent to lie in parallel planes spaced fromrespective ends of the knuckle. The tongues are apertured co-axially at15, FIGURE 5.

ICC

A helical torsion spring is located in the knuckle and has substantiallytangentially extending tails 17, 18, each of which projects through acorresponding one of the two slots 19 formed between the ends of theknuckle and the tongues 14. The tail 18 lies flat against the undersideof the loop plate 10 whereas the tail 17 projects generally normally ofthe loop plate. A hasp loop 20 is welded to the plate.

The attachment plate 11 has a pair of holes 21 for fixing it to asuitcase lid, for example, and is substantially elliptical in shape.From a longer side of the plate project a pair of ears 22 which areunited by a bar 23. Respective portions of the ears constitute integraltabs 24 bent into parallel planes and apertured co-axially at 25, FIGURE5. The ears 22 are bent into a somewhat C shape to form a somewhatcylindrical open box provided with a window 26, FIGURE 5.

The litting is assembled by locating the spring in the knuckle beforefinally closing same, then placing the loop plate 10 in the positionshown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 5 so that the complete knuckle passes throughthe window 26 and the two sets of apertures 15, 25, are aligned. Thetail 17 then abuts the bar 23 which forms a stop or abutment therefor.The pin 12 is then passed through the assembly and headed over to retainit in position.

Hence, assembly is simple :and cheap for no tensioning of the spring isnecessary. When the loop plate is swung through to the FIGURE 3 and 4position, in which the loop 20 can engage in a latch mechanism providedon the suitcase body, for example, the spring is automatically tensionedto that when released the loop plate will ily olf to the FIGURES 1, 2and 5 position.

Turning now to FIGURES 6 and 7, these show a second hasp in whichlighter gauge sheet metal is used. In this case the loop plate is madefrom atop pressing having a flange 30 extending around its periphery,except for the side provided with lug 13, and a bottom pressing 31 whichfits within the flange and is retained by an integral tab 32 on theflange which abuts against the plate, and by a second tongue 33 which tsinside the knuckle.

The loop 34 is rivetted to the bottom pressing, and the hollowconstruction of the loop plate enables tail 18 of the spring to beaccommodated therein and dispenses with the need for one of the slotsbetween the knuckle lug 13 and the adjacent tongue 14, as most clearlyseen in FIG- URE 6.

The attachment plate used in the FIGURES 5 and 6 construction likewisehas a peripheral flange 35 to give it an increased apparent thickness.

The hasp shown in FIGURES 5 and 6 is assembled in the same convenientmanner as that shown in FIGURES 1-5.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A hasp fitting comprising an attachment plate, a loop plate, a springand a pivot pin; said attachment plate having a pair of ears united by abar, the ears, plate and bar defining a window, said ears havingco-axial apertures; said loop plate comprising a lug having a portionbent into a cylindrical knuckle which houses the spring and havingintegral tongues disposed parallel to one another and spaced fromrespective axial ends of the knuckle; said spring being a helicaltorsion spring having tangentially extending tails each of which extendsthrough a space between the knuckle and tongues; said loop plate beingdisposed with its knuckle and said tongues extending through said windowand with one of the tails abutting the loop plate and the other.abutting the bar, said pin extending through the knuckle tongues andspring and through said co-axial apertures in the attachment plate ears.

2. A hasp fitting comprising an attachment plate, a loop plate, a springand a pivot pin; said attachment plate having a pair of ears united by abar, the ears, plate and bar dening a Window, said ears having co-axialapertures; said loop plate comprising a pair of assembled parallelplates one of which has van integral lug formed into a cylindricalknuckle which houses the spring; said spring being a helical torsionspring having tangentially extending tails, one of said tails extendingbetween the said assembled parallel plates; said loop plate beingdisposed with its knuckle extending through saidwindow and with theother of 'said tails of the spring abutting the bar, said pin extendingthrough the knuckle and spring and through said co-axial apertures inthe attachment plate ears.

3. A hasp tt'ing comprising, in combination: (a) an attachment platehaving a pair of ears united by a bar, the ears, plate, and bar defininga window, and said ears being formed with apertures having a cornmonaxis; (b) a helical torsion spring having tangentially extending tails;(c) a loop plate including two plate members, Y

(l) one of said plate members having an integral lug, a portion of saidlug being bent into a cylindrical knuckle about said axis, said knucklebeing coaxially received in said window and coaxially receiving saidspring, and two other portions of said lug constituting integral tonguesat axially opposite ends of said knuckle, one of said tongues abuttingagainst the associated end of said knuckle, and the other tongue beingaxially spaced from the associated other end of the knuckle `so as todene a space therewith, said tongues being apertured coaxially with saidapertures, said one plate member further having an integral tab spacedfrom said lug,

(2) the other one of said plate members having tongue means engagingsaid knuckle, and being engaged by said integral tab, said plate membersbeing secured in parallel spaced relationship by said tongue means andsaid tab;

(3) one of said tails extending through said space and abutting saidbar, and the other tail being Y retained between said plate members; (d)a loop member on said other plate member; and (e) a pin member coaxiallyextending through said knuckle, said spring, said apertures in said lugportions, and said apertured tongues, the axial end portions of said pinmember being headed.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,871,126 8/32Morley 16-191 1,892,584 12/32 Olson 16-189 2,054,360 9/36 Cheney 292-2812,803,850 8/57 Hooper 16-191 2,960,363 ll/60 Cheney 292--281 FOREIGNPATENTS 140,910 4/20 Great Britain.

M. HENSON WOOD, JR., Primary Examiner.

30 ALBERT H. KAMPE, THOMAS J. HECKEY,

Examiners.

1. A HASP FITTING COMPRISING AN ATTACHMENT PLATE, A LOOP PLATE, A SPRINGAND A PIVOTAL PIN; SAID ATTACHMENT PLATE HAVING A PAIR OF EARS UNITED BYA BAR, THE EARS, PLATE AND BAR DEFINING A WINDOW, SAID EARS HAVINGCO-AXIAL APERTURES; SAID LOOP PLATE COMPRISING A LUG HAVING A PORTIONBENT INTO A CYLINDRICAL KNUCKLE WHICH HOUSES THE SPRING AND HAVINGINTEGRAL TONGUES DISPOSED PARALLEL TO ONE ANOTHER AND SPACED FROMRESPECTIVE AXIAL ENDS OF THE KNUCKLE; SAID SPRING BEING A HELICALTORSION SPRING HAVING TANGENTIALLY EXTENDING TAILS EACH OF WHICH EXTENDSTHROUGH A SPACE BETWEEN THE KNUCKLE AND TONGUES; SAID LOOP PLATE BEINGDISPOSED WITH ITS KNUCKLE AND SAID TONGUES EXTENDING THROUGH SAID WINDOWAND WITH ONE OF THE TAILS ABUTTING THE LOOP PLATE AND THE OTHER ABUTTINGTHE BAR, SAID PIN EXTENDING THROUGH THE KNUCKLE TONGUES AND SPRING ANDTHROUGH SAID CO-AXIAL APERTURES IN THE ATTACHMENT PLATE EARS.